Climate change could push the Georgia State Tree out of Georgia
By combining observations of where specific species of trees actually live and projections of how temperature and other climate factors are likely to change from global warming, scientists are able to create maps of where those trees will be able to live in the future.1 In the case of the Live Oak, Georgia’s state tree may no longer be able to survive in Georgia by the end of this century.2 For an explanation of how these calculations are done and to see maps of the current and potential future ranges of all North American tree species, visit the Natural Resources Canada Plant Hardiness website.
References
- McKenney, D.W., J.P. Pedlar, L.R. Iverson, M.F. Hutchinson, K. Lawrence, K. Campbell. “Potential impacts of climate change on the distribution of North American trees.” (PDF) Bioscience 57, no. 11 (2007): 939-948. ↩
- See projections of potential future North American distributions for the Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) from the Natural Resources Canada Plant Hardiness website. ↩
